Are there stars that wouldn't look white to the naked eye?

Are there stars that wouldn't look white to the naked eye?

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I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.

Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.

All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.

Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.

We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).

Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.

Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

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asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

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Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

1

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.

Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.

All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.

Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.

We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).

Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.

Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

New contributor

Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

1

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.

Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.

All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.

Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.

We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).

Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.

Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

New contributor

I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.

Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.

All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.

Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.

We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).

Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.

Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?

visible-light astronomy stars

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

New contributor

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

New contributor

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

edited 1 hour ago

David Zâ™¦

62.2k23135251

62.2k23135251

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

New contributor

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

asked 1 hour ago

Claudio Castro

61

61

New contributor

New contributor

Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

1

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

1

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
â€“Â David Zâ™¦
1 hour ago

1

1

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
â€“Â Martin Beckett
54 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

2 Answers
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The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.

Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

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up vote
1
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There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.

In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

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The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.

Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.

Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
2
down vote

up vote
2
down vote

The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.

Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.

Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

answered 50 mins ago

Martin Beckett

28.2k55282

28.2k55282

add a commentÂ |Â

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.

In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.

In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

up vote
1
down vote

There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.

In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.

In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

answered 52 mins ago

Joshua

4,01522355

4,01522355

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add a commentÂ |Â

Claudio Castro is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

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